This week the Altair Partner Alliance (APA) welcomed MATELYS’ AlphaCell into the HyperWorks portfolio. AlphaCell will improve the noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) capabilities of HyperWorks, making simulations of vibrational acoustics in porous multi-layer trims now possible.

AlphaCell is a TMM/FTMM (transfer matric method/finite TMM) that can simulate vibrational acoustics from various sources including airborne, turbulent boundary layers and structure-borne sources. The tool can also study stud modeling, spatial windowing effect and porous heterogeneous materials thanks to dedicated models.

According to François-Xavier Bécot, MATELYS’ Co-Manager, “AlphaCell expands the already comprehensive NVH library available through the Altair Partner Alliance to include simulation capabilities for porous materials, as well as many other materials, and analysis of vibro-acoustic excitation resulting from numerous sources.”

AlphaCell comprises a wide material database that includes porous materials, double porosity materials, visco-elastic materials and perforated plates. This database can also be exported to other FEA programs.

“We are delighted to bring AlphaCell’s sophisticated acoustic performance modeling capabilities to HyperWorks users,” said Jianmin Guan, Sr. Prog. Manager for NVH at Altair. “With AlphaCell, users now have access to an extensive porous-material database that can be used to assess the acoustic absorption and transmission loss performance of any multi-layer acoustic trim design using various porous material models, including the BIOT model. AlphaCell’s solution expands Altair’s acoustic material modeling offerings and complements HyperWorks system-level structure and acoustic analysis solutions.”

This new addition to the HyperWorks APA should be quite useful to the aerospace, automotive, architecture, appliances, heavy industry and outdoor surfaces industries. It will be able to solve vibrational acoustic problems and can predict how multi-layer trims will affect the NVH design.

As with all other HyperWorks modules, AlphaCell can be accessed using recyclable licenses called HyperWorks Units.